Campus News

Nursing school offering new master’s in nursing leadership

The new MS program in nursing leadership will educate baccalaureate-prepared registered nurses for middle- and upper-level management positions in a variety of health care systems and settings. Photo: DOUGLAS LEVERE

By SARA R. SALDI

“As a leader in nursing education, the school has taken up the challenge to provide a program of study to meet the needs of a complex and ever-changing health care environment.”

Marsha Lewis, Dean, School of Nursing

The School of Nursing has received approval from New York State
to offer a master’s degree in nursing leadership in health
care systems, beginning this summer.

The new MS program educates baccalaureate-prepared registered
nurses for middle- and upper-level management positions in a
variety of health care systems and settings. It can be taken full
time, which would allow completion in one year (four semesters),
including summers, or part time.

The leadership
program of study will partner with UB’s schools of
Management and Public Health and Health Professions, according to
Janice Jones, clinical professor and program coordinator.

Jones says the program is accepting applications until April 22,
with classes starting during the first summer session. The program
will start only in the summer and plans to admit at least 10
students in its first cohort.

Why is the nursing school offering a master’s degree in
nursing leadership when the BSN degree previously has served as the
foundation for a management track in nursing?

School of Nursing Dean Marsha Lewis meets regularly with area
chief nursing officers and nurse educators to discuss issues that
affect health care and nursing education in the community. The
group suggested that UB offer an MS in nursing leadership in an
effort to better equip nurse managers to keep pace with the
challenges facing health care leaders today.

“Our community partners identified the need for a program
designed specifically to educate baccalaureate-prepared registered
nurses to assume leadership and executive roles,” Lewis
explains. “Today’s health care settings require nurse
managers to take on expanding roles in management to promote
innovative change and quality outcomes. As a leader in nursing
education, the school has taken up the challenge to provide a
program of study to meet the needs of a complex and ever-changing
health care environment.”

Jones adds that patient care and management of nursing staff
have become more demanding, requiring advanced education.

“The acuity of hospitalized patients has changed
dramatically. Those patients who previously were in intensive care
can now be found on general medical-surgical nursing units,”
she says.

“In addition to supervising the staff who care for these
seriously ill patients, the nurse manager (usually known as the
head nurse) is not only responsible for the unit’s budget and
staffing, but also areas such as quality issues, patient
satisfaction, nursing research and evidence-based practice
utilization, and promoting what we call healthy work environments
that promote nurses’ job satisfaction, resulting in job
retention and better patient outcomes.”

To address the needs of each student, the clinical practicum
will be individually designed to apply the evidence-based
leadership and management concepts according to each
student’s career objectives, Jones says.

These specific career goals will be addressed in the N 640
practicum—a six-credit (300 hours) course that will help the
candidates develop managerial and leadership skills specific to
their purposes and to the strategic outcomes of the organizations
and health care facilities the students represent.

One feature of the curriculum is having local administrators
take part.

“We have a local chapter of the American Organization of
Nurse Executives,” says Jones, “and our students will
be encouraged to join this organization. Several members from the
organization have already volunteered to act as mentors on an
as-needed basis.”

Upon completion of the program and after several years of active
administrative experience requirements are met, student will be
eligible to sit for the American Nurses Credentialing
Center’s (ANCC) certification in nursing administration.

Jones says that potential employment opportunities for graduates
of the program include nurse or unit manager, director or vice
president of nursing, project director, academic faculty, staff
development, quality specialists and patient safety officers.